Tuesday, January 01, 2013

2013 - going for a single digit handicap...

Tuesday 1.1.2013 Sitting here at the minute and it still seems like yesterday I returned to playing golf seriously again. In fact it was in 2009 that I picked up the clubs and started again. Four fun filled golf seasons have passed and it has been exactly that a lot of fun. As a matter of fact it has also been a very intellectually stimulating experience so far and that is something which makes it possible for me to get more from the game than just sporting, social and competitive activity.
The game has changed a lot since when I began playing during the late 1980's. Equipment is far more diverse and there is something to suit every individual golfer it seems. I still recall going to get a new set and being totally bemused by the array of club styles available. Today I have been through the gamut of cavity back styles, old and new blades, shaft varieties and then there are the various balls which come into the equation. To be playing with a full set of hybrids which suit my golfing progress and the specific needs that influence my golfing game now was not easily arrived at. The journey though was a bucket load of fun.
My final range session was using the #5 Hybrid and the accuracy, ease of hitting the ball and the results came from the combination of equipment and coaching that established a decent swing at last.

In 2012 I pushed my self to the limit of endurance. Starting with the goal of getting to a single digit handicap it became obvious that this was too big of a hurdle for my ability early in the season  to achieve. This is where the awareness of what golf involves that has been learnt from online interaction showed its worth. Coaching became the total focus of my season and working on what was taught. Whilst more attention could have been paid to playing the game to win I did well enough in the first half of the year to win two club season trophies. That satisfied my ego.
Letting me become absorbed in the process of getting a decent swing to hit the ball right down pat. It was the effort that went into improving my fitness that made this possible. Losing 8 kilograms was a big help. Not to forget that I also stopped smoking two years ago as well as gradually beginning a new exercise program specifically to assist my golf.

Something that I became aware of in my golfing adventure has been my physical shortcomings. It is very easy to make excuses for not changing how you go about doing many things. Simply because change to a routine is always an unsettling venture for people who generally are creatures of habit. Peoples reaction to natural weather events have me in stitches at times when there is a hue and cry about all of the disruption that happens. Good grief 50 years ago people seemed to be a lot more reliant when the power went off yet now there is almost a need to have a public execution to satisfy the people whose usual day has been disrupted!

Back onto the topic again the previous body training methods used specifically weights were particularly unsuited. This time I chose cable/strand pulling exercises a simple piece of equipment that can be packed and travel with me. In the last two months of 2012 I began regularly using it to do some basic conditioning. In the meantime researching the various exercise sets and which parts of the body they affect. The method is as usual to document the progress starting from today and have a record of the ineffectiveness of my program.
My goal is to develop stamina and the strength to be able to make the same swing every time without tiredness affecting execution. Targeting specific body areas again in the search to improve my damaged bits. As usual I cannot help myself in the quest to get better. Once again I am doing what I have sworn to stop doing, this time though I am not trying to break the restrictions. The point of recording the progress is to be able to see the first sign of discomfort in front of me and stop straight away instead of continuing.
Have a great 2013, thankyou for your time and attention, "Hit 'em straight all"
Geoff